Modesto woman worked with son on death row to apply for stimulus checks, prosecutors say
A Modesto woman is accused of conspiring with her son — a death row inmate at San Quentin State Prison — to use other people’s identities to file for $145,200 in federal coronavirus relief stimulus payments, according to a federal indictment.
Sheila Denise Dunlap, 50, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identify theft.
She was arraigned May 20 in federal court in San Francisco. She is out of custody on a $15,000 bond, according to court records. She was scheduled to have a hearing Thursday regarding the conditions of her release and a status hearing Friday.
Dunlap did not respond to a text message Thursday seeking comment, and her public defender declined to comment.
The indictment alleges that from May through June of last year, Dunlap filed 121 claims using names and Social Security numbers provided by her son, identified in the indictment by the initials D.W.
The indictment alleges that on May 28, 2020, five stimulus payments of $1,200 each were electronically deposited in Dunlap’s bank account. The payments were in other people’s names.
“Dunlap immediately withdrew the funds and used them for personal expenses,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The stimulus payments were part of the federal government’s $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, and which took effect March 2020. Many Americans received one-time payments of $1,200.
The indictment alleges Dunlap and her son applied for stimulus payments for people who did not file income tax returns. Dunlap and her son communicated by telephone and text message, and he provided her with the personal information of inmates and other people they believed had not filed tax returns, according to the indictment.
D.W. worked with another person to email Dunlap around April 2020 a spreadsheet with the personal information of 9,043 people, according to the indictment. D.W. told his mother to file applications for the college age people on the spreadsheet in the belief they did not file tax returns. Authorities claim she filed 121 fraudulent claims.
“Communicating via telephone and text message, Dunlap and D.W. conspired, devised, and engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by submitting fraudulent claims for (stimulus payments) using the personally identifiable information of other individuals,” the indictment alleges.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and $250,000 fine, and the sentence for the identity theft is two years with a maximum fine of $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.
The news release states this prosecution is the result of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
